Causation in the Imperial Age from c. 1750 to c. 1900
Economic Imperialism
Growth of factories
Increased production of goods
Greater demand for raw materials such as cotton to keep up with production
Desire for more colonies in order to fuel needs
Colonies exploited solely for parent country's benefit
Cash crops
Export economies
Banana republics
Man power to work in factories
Indentured servitude
Extremely cheap labor with low wages and bad working conditions
Britain in India, Japan in Korea, Germany in Africa, etc.
Colonizers took advantaged of new technologies to discover and control colonies
Tea
Cotton
Sugar
Coffee
Transportation and Navigation
Weaponry
Gunpowder firearms/cannons
Compass
Medicine
Map
Quinine
Railroad networks as a means to extract more resources
Supported by cheap labor
Industrial Capitalism
Changes to manufacturing
Concept of the assembly line
Broke down complex tasks into multiple simple ones
Allowed for mass production of cheap goods
Heavy reliance on transportation
Railroads
Steam ships
Use of indentured servitude
Needed a workforce to fill the vacuum that slavery left
Changes to class structure
Expansion of the middle class
Gave jobs to many
Creation of the bourgeoisie
Fall/Rise of Governments
Controversial, however, due to long working hours and poor conditions
Coerced labor in colonies combated by religious institutions
Almost no regulation (factory owners took advantage of job monopoly)
Later combated by workers' unions
Boom in mechanized labor
Invention of machines that allowed for heightened production and efficiency, resulting in the decline of skilled labor
Cotton gin
Spinning jenny
Water frame
Japan
China
Ottoman Empire
Arrival of Commodore Perry
Meiji Reformation
Greatly weakened
Territory loss
Greece
Egypt
Foreign influence
Capitulations
Could not keep up with the advancing world
Reliance on trade with no other significant means to improve crippled economy
Failure to modernize quickly enough
Despite some reform (outlawing Janissaries, modernizing military, etc.), it was not enough
Faced backlash from its own populations, many of whom were resistant to change
Similar to Ottomans in that it faced both economic and territorial issues
Encroachment of land by foreign influence
Sphere of Influence
Land taken by both European powers and Japan
Weakened government, discontent public, and crippled economy
Boxer Rebellion
Opium Wars
Huge population unsupported by traditional agricultural techniques
Similarly attempted defensive modernization, but a lack of a central power caused indecisiveness
Successfully became recognized as a world power
Implemented many changes
Justice system
Constitutional monarchy
Reformed military
Western education system
Industrialized voluntarily
Achieved great economic growth